2006/10/15

한국 요리 My guide to Korean food

Before going to 中国/China I never really ate Korean food, except of course the pibimbap at JK Sweets and going to the vegan Korean place Amitabul a few times. Then for a year and a half I lived in 东王庄/Dōngwángzhuāng and 五道口/Wǔdàokǒu, at the center of the Korean community in 北京/Běijīng, which represents the largest expat population in the city. So now that I've finally become familiar with the incredibly intense flavors and spiciness of Korean food, I've found that it's one of my favorites. The following rundown of vegetarian/vegan-friendly Korean dishes is based on standard menus found in Beijing, I'm assuming restaurants in the States have similar options.

Be careful! Almost all of these dishes could have meat added to them but are just fine without it. If there's any doubt, use the following:저는 채식주의자입니다. 어패류도 먹지 않습니다.(I'm a vegetarian and I don't eat seafood either.)

Egg is also a common ingredient.계란도 먹지 않습니다.(I also don't eat eggs.)

Transliteration and pronunciation: transliteration systems for Korean are a big mess, so you could run into one of the two transliterations I'm providing or some variation on them. The first transliteration follows the system the South Korean government (inconsistently) uses, and the second is McCune-Reischauer, which is standard in English-language scholarly works. If you have the Korean written down it should never be a problem. Pronunciation of Korean is pretty hard to master but you should be okay just sounding it out from the transliteration, except:a is always as the o in hot,o is always as the oa in boat,u is always as the oo in fool,ae and e are almost exactly the same, as the e in pet,oe/ŏ is similar to the au in author,when letters are doubled up (jj, dd, &c) it's the same sound pronounced more emphatically.

김치/gimchi/kimch'iAmericans are now pretty familiar with the most common gimchi, made with preserved bokchoy and chiles, but there are dozens of other kinds too, made of everything from daikon radish (called 깍두기, kkakdugi) to cucumber. Korean restaurants usually serve a couple kinds of gimchi as free side dishes. Gimchi varies in its flavor and how spicy it is, but as far as I'm concerned, the spicier the better.

비빔밥/pibimbap/bibimbapPibimbap is rice with various vegetables - usually carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, cucumbers - on top, with a fried egg and a spicy bean-based sauce, all mixed together after it's served. The best part about pibimbap is the sauce, called 고추장/gochujang/koch'ujang. It has a unique flavor and is gratifyingly hot. Vegans make sure to ask for no egg.

김밥/gimbap/kimbapGimbap are Korean sushi rolls. They're different from Japanese 寿司/sushi rolls in that they're usually bigger and have more than one ingredient in the middle. Instead of adding vinegar and sugar to the rice as in Japanese sushi rolls, gimbap has sesame oil added. Be careful that you're not getting fish cake or other meat in the rolls, since that's common, as is egg.

유부초밥/yubu chobap/yubu ch'obapThe Korean version of Japanese 稲荷寿司/inari zushi, an unusual form of sushi in which sushi rice is stuffed in a pocket made of sweet tofu skin. As far as I can tell yubu chobap isn't any different from inari zushi. Make sure they don't put bits of fish in it.

김치찌개/gimchi jjigae/kimch'i tchigaeGimchi soup: bokchoy gimchi in a bright red broth, often with tofu. Gimchi jjigae is one of the more intensely spicy eating experiences I've ever had.

비빔냉면/pibim naengmyoen/bibim naengmyŏnMixed cold noodles. The flavor of good naengmyoen is incomparable. It's spicy, but the pleasure of the experience comes more from the incredibly intense taste. Vegans watch out for eggs.

물냉면/mul naengmyoen/mul naengmyŏnAnother kind of cold noodles, in cold soup with the same incredible flavors. Mul naengmyoen can be a little less intense because you can wash some of the spice off with the soup, but I wouldn't.

잡채/japchae/chapchaeStir-fried noodles, using vegetables and glass noodles made from beans or potato. The flavors are duller than most of the other Korean foods I regularly eat, but it's still a good dish and can help balance the spicier ones.

떡볶이/ddoekbokki/ttŏkbokkiA common snack in Korea, you might find this on some restaurant menus. Thick rice noodles a couple inches long in a hot sauce with some vegetables and/or mushrooms.

김치전/gimchijoen/kimchijŏn or 김치바전/gimchibajoen/kimchibajŏnA large bready pancake made with gimchi but not too hot. Satisfyingly greasy, and usually served with a tasty soy sauce-based sauce.

1 comment:

i'm excited to get out there and get some good korean food. a big korean food store/shopping mall thing just opened up on the far north west side, actually in niles, i suppose. it's great, as well as korean, japanese, and vietnamese prepared food/groceries (and asian-french fusion baked goods, featuring the ever popular inky squid bread) there are import dvds for $6, including many american and european movies!

an aditional word of caution: i ran into veggie potstickers and inari that both had egg (listed just as "albumen") glazes.